Septic Problems

[FordMan59]

This past winter and spring have been very wet in this area. Lately I've been having problems with the septic system backing up now and then. As long as the weather stays dry for a few days everything works great, but often after a large rain things start to back up. Is it likely that the ground is too wet to absorb the liquids from the septic tank or do you think I have a larger problem? About a week ago the system had been working fine all day, late that afternoon I took a bath and it came a very hard rain while I was in the tub, the water drained OK, but then my wife got a bath right after and the water tried to back up in a separate shower drain. For about the last week it has dried up quite a bit and I've tried not to introduce any more sewage to the system that absolutely necessary and there have been no backups. If this is just a case of the ground being overly saturated how long would it take for the septic system to get back to normal after the weather dries up?

[HayZee518]

have you taken off the inspection cover to see how much solids are in the tank? when's the last time the tank was pumped out?

[FordMan59]

have you taken off the inspection cover to see how much solids are in the tank? when's the last time the tank was pumped out?

I haven't removed the cover. Don't know when if ever it's been pumped out. We've been living here 4.5 years and never had problem until this wet weather set in. We lived in our last home from 1991-2010, the septic tank was never pumped out and we never had a back up.

[pushkins]

All septic tanks need pumping, there are solids that simply don't break down and even the ones that do leave small amounts of by product. Probably if there were just the two of you you didn't produce enough waste to see any ill effect. Tanks should be pumped every 6 - 8 years. The issue really comes from solids entering the D box and then into the leach fields where they create a bio mat this bio mat doesn;t allow the waste liquid it absorb into the ground. This starts at the closest holes in the pipe and as they fill the holes next in line are effected and so on and so on.
Your situation with rain effecting the back flow sounds like one of two options.
1. very high water table due to long periods of rain
2. diminished leach field that cannot handle rain fall and house water.
If it were me I'd either dig up the tank lid and look inside and or dig up the D box and look inside, in the D box you should see ONLY liquid and it should be free of almost all solids (almost clear ish).
Most tanks have two sides the inlet side collects and allows the solids to settle to the bottom, the outlet side again allows finer solids to collect on the bottom and liquid to drain out through the sanitary T.

[FordMan59]

We got 2 or 3 snows late in the season (March) that were 8-12" and since then it's been raining several days a week most weeks and these usually were not small rains, often several inches per week. We haven't had any rain to amount to anything in the last 3-4 days and the soil is still wet looking on the surface and even a couple puddles of water in the yard. Since the rain has slowed everything is working as it should. I'll probably take the top off the tank and take a look. There's just me and my wife now so not a terrible lot of waste. The system in the last house with us and the previous owners probably went well over 20 years with no problems and there were four of us living there. I also added some septic system treatment to the system a few days ago, they recommend 16 oz. every two months for a 1K gallon tank, I think I'll give it a few extra doses over the next few months, maybe 12-16 oz, every couple weeks and see if that will also help.

[pushkins]

Yes certainly in heavier soils that kind of snow and rain could cause the issues you are seeing. As a small test dig a hole 1' x 1' x 1' in the yard and note 1. if it fills with water and 2. how long it takes to dry out, This is a kind of "perk test" if it's empty to start with fill it with water and again note how long it takes to empty, this will give you an idea of the soil's absorption rate.

[FordMan59]

Problem was a blockage at the entrance to the tank. Cleaned up and all is good now.

[pushkins]

How does a blockage at the line into the tank result in flooding of the yard ?.....The pipe to the tank is solid so any blockage in it would result in a backup into the house (lowest drain).
and how does a blockage create ground water only when it rains ?

[FordMan59]

The blockage isn't what was causing the wet ground, we'd just had so much late snow and rain this spring that the ground was staying wet making me think maybe that was the problem. The blockage was slowly allowing a little bit of the sewage to enter the tank, but finally got to the point things were starting to back up in other drains even during dry weather. I guess that we weren't having as much waste water during the drier times making me think it was associated with the wet ground. All just a coincidence. Got the blockage cleaned out early this week and everything is working as it should again.